MILK
Weather in the Midwest has been cooler which is keeping cows comfortable and feed intakes high. However, milk production seems to have peaked indicating spring flush may be finished. Milk in the Northeast continues to show some gains, but the pace is slowing as well. Other areas are holding steady. More milk is moving to manufacturing from school accounts and will continue to do so for the next few months. May Class III milk price set a new record. Depending on the level of demand the rest of the year, that record could also be broken. However, there is concern high prices in grocery stores may result in some slowing of demand, maybe not so much for milk, but for other dairy products. Milk production in New Zealand is projected to be down 4.3% for the 2021-22 season. Overly wet weather in some areas and drought in others has had a significant impact on production.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $24.45 |
| 6 Month: | $24.26 |
| 9 Month: | $23.86 |
| 12 Month: | $22.06 |
CHEESE
For the week, blocks declined a penny with 5 loads traded. Barrels declined 5 cents with 15 loads traded. Dry whey gained 3.50 cents with 2 loads traded. According to the April Dairy Products report, American cheese production totaled 465 million pounds, down 2.7% from April 2021. Italian type cheese output reached 489 million pounds, up 1.2% from the previous year. Total cheese production totaled 1.16 billion pounds and 0.1% above a year earlier. Dry whey production totaled 82.8 million pounds which was 7.0% higher than a year ago. Lactose production increased 2.8% totaling 101 million pounds. Whey protein concentrate declined 1.1% totaling 45.0 million pounds.
BUTTER
For the week, butter gained 3.75 cents with 27 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk price increased 0.25 cents with 10 loads traded. Butter production in April totaled 181 million pounds, down 1.0% from April 2021. Nonfat dry milk production totaled 196 million pounds, an increase of 1.0% from a year ago. Skim milk powder totaled 35.6 million pounds. This was down 36.5% from April 2021.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
July corn declined 3.25 cents closing at $7.27. July soybeans fell 31.50 cents closing at $16.9775 with July soybean meal down $7.00 per ton closing at $407.90. July wheat declined 18.25 cents closing at $10.40. June live cattle slipped $0.02 ending at $133.60. July crude oil gained $2.00 closing at $118.87 per barrel. The DOW fell 349 points closing at 32900 while the NASDAQ fell 304 points closing at 12,013.
